Page 5 – The Waltonian

This summer marked the first year of Eastern University’s new summer learning program called FastPass. Through FastPass, students are able to take two online summer courses each year they are enrolled as an undergraduate student. Both classes are free of charge. Students only need to pay for their books and the overall summer semester cost of enrollment, saving them hundreds of dollars.

This financial aspect proved effective in getting students to enroll in summer classes. According to data gathered by the Center of Teaching, Learning & Technology, 686 students participated in summer classes this year, taking a grand total of 3,229 credits. This is a drastic jump from the 277 students taking a total of 1,277 credits who enrolled in summer courses the previous year.

FastPass provides a cost-effective way to take classes and has more than doubled the amount of students enrolling during the summer, but does it work? Is it beneficial to students on an educational level? All of the classes are online and in seven week semesters, opposed to traditional 15 week semesters, which can often prove challenging for students.

Christine Carey, a sophomore who took Modern Western Civilization during the summer, felt the divide between FastPass and a typical class format.

“It wasn’t my first online class, so I knew that it wasn’t going to be the same as an in-class thing, but I definitely think you learn more when you’re in person,” Carey said. “It was the kind of class you’d want to have in class discussions for.” Discussions for FastPass classes are held through the discussion forums on Brightspace to make up for not being able to discuss topics openly with other students and the professor in person.

Abigail Fell-Dewalt, a senior who took Introductory Biology over the summer, had a different view of the way class discussions were facilitated.

“You definitely did still get some of the classroom experience even though you weren’t seeing each other face-to-face, however that option was always there. You could go on Zoom, and you could ask people questions and meet people there,” Fell-Dewalt said.

The digital nature of FastPass offers difficulty when it comes to student engagement and discussions.

“You can’t replicate students’ engagement in the classroom,” Sarah Todd, director of the Center for Career Development and the instructor for the Young Adult Literature course offered during the summer, said.

“You have to be intentional about creating an online community,” Todd said.

Todd also mentioned how she noticed some challenges s early on in teaching the course.

“Some students hear ‘online class’ or ‘summer class’ and it creates an expectation that there will be less work or that it will be generally easier, but that’s not how these courses are designed,” Todd said.

Professors who taught summer courses had to go through a four week training course in order to make the Brightspace pages for each class user-friendly and provide what Todd called a level of “technological comfort.” However, condensing 15 weeks of learning material into seven weeks is no easy undertaking for professors or students.

“[The shorter semester] didn’t give me as much time to process information, but that’s what a fast track is, and that’s what you’re to expect,” Fell-Dewalt said.

Despite the setbacks that taking online summer courses can provide, students and faculty alike ultimately agreed that the FastPass program as a whole has been beneficial to students not only by saving them money, but by making scheduling traditional semesters easier. “Some kids have classes that they want to take that only happen one semester every two years. FastPass will allow them to take other courses that they need over the summer rather than taking the place of that course they really want to take,” said Carey.

“Students have busy lives. FastPass can allow them to take one less class during the semester when they play sports, have internships, and are dealing with familial problems,” said Todd. “It allows for the realities of life, creating more timeline possibilities and more balance.”

For more information about FastPass visit: www. eastern.edu/fastpass.

It’s no secret that Eastern University has a wide variety of clubs and activities for students, making it nearly impossible to stay up to date with all of them, and Inklings is a club that may have slipped under the radar for the majority of Eastern students.

Inklings meetings take place biweekly on Thursdays in HHC22 from 8pm to 9pm. During this time, club members work on writing new poems and short stories based off of writing prompts and give each other constructive feedback on pieces they’ve already written. In the fall semester, there’s more of a focus on creating and writing new pieces, while in the spring semester, the focus shifts more to revising those pieces and making them the best they can possibly be through group discussions.

“The best part of Inklings is getting to be a part of a community of writers invested in helping each other, and that community is what drives the meetings and encourages people to share the poems and stories they’ve worked hard on” said Ruby Baker, the Editor-in-Chief of Inklings.

Meetings are not the only place that students can share their creative work with others. They can also decide to submit their pieces to the Inklings literary magazine.

“The mission of Inklings is to showcase the creativity of Eastern University’s campus in the forms of photography, writing, and art, and to accurately represent the student body through them,” said Baker.

The magazine is student-run, so Inklings members get a say in what content goes into the final publication at the end of the spring semester. Once students submit their artwork or writing to the magazine by emailing it to inklings@eastern.edu, all of the submissions are evaluated blindly, meaning that the names of the authors, poets, and artists aren’t known to the students looking through them. This ensures that the pieces are taken into consideration for craftsmanship alone.

To anyone unfamiliar with submitting to literary magazines, this information can sound intimidating, but there’s no need to worry.

“Good writing comes in lots of different forms,” Baker said. “It’s not just reserved for English majors. We want something that’s going to hit us in the gut. If your writing makes someone feel something, submit it!”

Baker also mentioned the benefits of becoming a part of the Inklings community.

“Come to meetings and ask us questions because we edit and workshop with other writers, and you get a feel for the style of our editors. We are a reflection of who we read and who we write like.” Baker said.

While Inklings publishes a print edition of the magazine towards the end of the spring semester, this past year, the magazine has also started to publish students’ work online. On inklingslitmag.weebly.com, readers can find the poems, stories, and artwork from the 2017/2018 issue, as well as a brand new blog section, which is updated frequently and gives more in-depth insights into what’s happening at Inklings meetings and in the world of art and literature.

Even with the recent changes to the publication, there’s still room for more changes in the future.

“Eventually, we’d like to expand Inklings to have a print publication that’s just for the work of Eastern students and alumni, and an online publication that has submissions from undergraduate students from across the U.S.” Ruby said. “We’d also like to bring in speakers that are writers for workshops at our meetings.”

Though these are long-term goals for the club, both the Inklings meetings and the Inklings literary magazine have great things in store for them this year.

Another key component of Inklings is the amount of events held for students to improve their writing, share their work, and get to know each other better. Throughout the year, the club hosts poetry readings for students to share poems they’ve been working on or poems that they enjoy reading and inspire them, as well as a write-in during the fall semester, in which students and faculty alike are welcome to come and work on their writing projects for as long as they’d like while enjoying the company of other writers.

Dates for this year’s write-in and readings have yet to be announced, so keep your eyes and ears open for any announcements about these events!

If you’re interested in being a part of Inklings or if you have any questions regarding the club or the publication, you can contact the editors by sending an email to inklings@eastern.edu.

Eastern University has made several changes in the past year, including a new president, new meal plan options, new turf fields, and a new director of the campus’ Athletic Department.

Meet Eric McNeely, men’s basketball coach and Director of the Athletic Department. Mr. McNeeley completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Barry University in Miami, Florida and graduated with a master’s degree in Administration. In 2008, he began coaching for La Salle University. In the years that followed, McNeeley coached for schools in Miami and Indiana.

“My wife’s job took us all over the country, and eventually back to Pennsylvania, where I found Eastern University and fell in love with their mission,” McNeeley said.

McNeeley joined Eastern’s staff in 2014 and became the head coach for the men’s basketball team in 2015, a position he continues to hold even as the Athletic Department’s director.

“It’s definitely an adjustment to balance both positions, but I make sure to have time to pour my heart and soul into basketball and the students on the team and time to fully devote myself to everything happening in the Athletic Department,” McNeeley said.

When asked about his thoughts on the upcoming basketball season, McNeeley said, “We’re really blessed to have a lot of experience in the basketball program, especially our seniors. It’s exciting. Over the past four years, the team has been provided with good opportunities, some drastic improvements have been made, and I’m really happy with their performance so far in the preseason.”

As the director of the Athletic Department, Mr. McNeeley has more responsibilities than just coaching men’s basketball. He’s consistently at work implementing his vision for the future of Eastern athletics and the athletes themselves.

“My main focus is on the athletes’ experience, not only as athletes, but as students. We’re trying to get the students connected to the athletes on teams from other sports through different events to build relationships that go beyond the locker rooms,” McNeeley said.

McNeeley continued by stating that his vision was also “peer-driven, mission based, and campus-wide,” meaning that he envisions the student athletes building up a faith-based community with their peers, cheering each other on, both on the field and off. Further down the line, Mr. McNeeley would also like to introduce new sports to Eastern’s campus in the future. “Nothing is off the table here,” he said. “Wrestling, swimming, ice hockey, competitive cheerleading, and football are all sports I’d love to explore.”

With more events for student athletes to connect and build relationships with one another and a promising basketball season quickly approaching, Mr. McNeeley’s influence can already be seen in Eastern’s Athletic Department through the various events that have been held and the community that’s being built up around all of the sports Eastern has to offer.

To all new student athletes, Mr. McNeeley advises freshmen to “Be patient. This transition from highschool to college is large. Remember to manage your time between work and fun, take care of your bodies and minds, and set aside time to improve spiritually.”